Polyolefin is a popular material (sometimes referred to as polyalkene) used to make a variety of products, such as swim floats, gym mats, camping mats, garden kneelers, toys etc. Polyolefin products are typically constructed out of a single piece of polyolefin of a single colour by conventional manufacturing processes (e.g. being cut into the desired form).
To improve the look and branding potential for these products, it is desirable for manufacturers to add colourful imagery. In conventional polyolefin products, manufacturers have not succeeded in surface-printing the material and have instead relied on laser etching, heat embossing and colour infill to improve the branding. This problem, is particularly acute for foamed polyolefin products such as those made from ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or polyethylene (PE) foam. For example, screen-printing or other direct printing techniques often fail because the surface of the foam has broken or cut cells which form pits which do not become inked. Accordingly, the final printed image is of low continuity and of low intensity since much of the substrate foam colour remains visible amongst the inked image parts. In the example of a swimming float, the only cost effective solution for manufacturers is to use single or multi coloured layers, which are then cut to shape and either laser etched or heat embossed to improve the branding or provide other indications (such as warning details). Thus the outcome is either a pattern of different grooves or patterns formed by variations in the depth of the surface, or a collage or mosaic of several different colour materials fixed together. These methods are not cost effective, lack durability and limit the scope of imagery that may be applied to the polyolefin product.
Polyolefin is also used to manufacture kitting trays. A kitting tray has a plurality of compartments, wherein the user may place a component for a product in a designated compartment. This segregation of components increases the likelihood that the correct component is used when assembling the product. However, users tend to accidentally place components in the wrong compartment (for example, by mistaking one part for a similarly shaped and dimensioned component). This can be particularly dangerous if, for example, the user is constructing a product in a field in which safety is paramount (such as the aviation industry).
Flight cases (sometimes referred to as road cases) are containers used for transporting goods. A flight case is typically used to transport fragile goods, and is often used in music, racing, shipping and medical industries. A flight case is usually a cuboid having six panels (made of hard materials such as astroboard, multiplex plywood, aluminium plate, PVC laminated plywood) riveted to aluminium extrusions which connect the panels together.
To improve the branding potential for the flight case, manufacturers add colourful imagery to the panels. This typically includes the panels being printed or emblazoned using processes such as screen printing, or vinyl cut graphics and sticker application. However, these processes rely on large volumes of product to make them cost effective, and they suffer from poor durability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,683A describes a self-adhesive, disposable, laminated protective garment, such as a bib. The garment is laminated with a liquid-absorbent layer which may be porous paper, non-woven cotton or various multiple layered absorbent materials, on the front and a liquid-impermeable layer at the back. Printing is applied directly to the absorbent front layer as a continuous sheet, by rolling between printing drums using a thermal transfer or applied on-line ink transfer method. Alternatively, printing may be carried out using an electrostatic printhead in place of pairs of printing drums. The printed absorbent layer and liquid impermeable layer are laminated together using an adhesive, to form the finished product.
JP2004-034497A describes a lighting fixture using a two-layered material having a coloured translucent fibrous material bonded to a transparent layer. The fibrous coloured sheet may be coloured using ink jet printing, gravure printing, screen printing, printing by offset printing and the like. For materials which cannot be printed using these techniques, a prior surface treatment of the fibrous sheet is proposed, such as applying a partial benzal polyvinyl alcohol resin before printing.
It is therefore desirable to alleviate some or all of the above problems.